￼Photography is by Brett Boardman, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Here's some more information from LAVA:

The Martians have landed and they’ve set up their very own embassy in inner city Sydney!

The new embassy was designed by LAVA, with partners Will O'Rourke and The Glue Society, as a fusion of a whale, a rocket and a time tunnel, an immersive space of oscillating plywood ribs brought to life by red planet light and sound projections.

Above: photograph is by Peter Murphy

LAVA’s design for the Martian Embassy is for The Sydney Story Factory, a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people in Redfern, Sydney. The project was a collaboration with production company Will O’Rourke and their creative partners The Glue Society, who developed the Martian concept which was then road tested with kids - of all ages.

Chris Bosse, Asia Pacific director of LAVA said: ‘It's the stuff great stories are made of - think of Moby Dick, H. G. Wells' Time Machine and 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick’.

Above: photograph is by Peter Murphy

‘The concept is to awaken creativity in kids, so the design acts as a trigger, firing up the engines of imagination. It’s an intergalactic journey - from the embassy, at the street entrance, to the shop full of red planet traveller essentials, to the classroom. By the time kids reach the writing classes they have forgotten they are in “school”.’

‘Using a fluid geometry merging the three program components [embassy, school and shop], a computer model was sliced and ‘nested’ into buildable components. 1068 pieces of CNC-cut plywood were put together like a giant puzzle. Using technologies from the yacht and space industry the timber ribs create shelves, seats, benches, storage, counters and displays and continue as strips on the floor. Edged with Martian green, the curvy plywood flows seamlessly so that walls, ceiling and floor, space, structure and ornament, become one element.’

A mix of Martian essential oils infuses the tunnel to inspire young imaginations, whilst the sounds and lights of the red planet animate the space.

Click the image above for a larger image

Martian passports, alien money, 1kg cans of gravity, abduction kits and SPF 5000 sunscreen are just some of the 'Made on Mars' gift products sold in the Martian Embassy store.

‘We had a lot of fun creating the first diplomatic mission from inner space’, added Bosse.
￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼The Sydney Story Factory is a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people in inner Sydney. Volunteer tutors help students to write and publish stories. Free programs target young people, from marginalized, Indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds, but are open to everyone.

Click the image above for a larger image

It was inspired by 826 Valencia, a creative writing centre for young people started by novelist Dave Eggers in San Francisco in 2002. A Pirate Supply Store fronts the centre, selling everything the working buccaneer needs: peg legs, eye patches, parrot feed. There are now eight chapters across the US, each with its own unique themed shop. In 2010 novelist Nick Hornby opened The Ministry of Stories in London, behind Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/24/the-martian-embassy-by-lava-will-orourke-and-the-glue-society/feed/1Embassy of Belgium by Buerger Katsota Architectshttp://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/15/embassy-of-belgium-by-buerger-katsota-architects/
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/15/embassy-of-belgium-by-buerger-katsota-architects/#commentsSun, 15 Jul 2012 08:00:41 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=227324Folding steel shutters and bullet-proof glass protect the new reception of the Belgian Embassy in Athens by Buerger Katsota Architects. The renovated entrance foyer is open to the public by day and leads up to a reception counter and security checkpoint behind a cement panel-clad wall. Coloured lights line the edges of the glazed facade and reflect onto blinds that fold down […]

The Belgian Embassy in Athens is housed in the three lower levels of a prestigious, late 1960’s apartment building. The proposed scheme aims at creating a ‘Storefront’ for Belgium in the centre of Athens.

The new façade is open, transparent, interactive, as well as protective. Behind the full height, clear structural glazing with its stainless steel foldable protective screen, a lighting strip negotiates the transition between outside and inside. During after hours, the illuminated façade marks the embassy’s presence and literally render the arcade with the colours of Belgium. Technically, the entire glazing is designed to withstand acts of vandalism and security threats.

The proposed reorganization of the interiors aims at creating a welcoming, open, well defined public space to flexibly cater for various events and uses. The main elements of the proposed plan are: the front entrance area -the Vestibule- which is intended as a multifunctional public space, the second threshold, the ‘grey box’ incorporating the space for the Receptionist’s Office and the Security Portal, and the staircase area with the lift lobby.

The materials have been selected for their quality, durability, performance and elegance, with their list being purposely limited: white marble for the flooring with reference to the existing. Grey ‘Eternit’ panels for the Receptionist Area and the Security Portal, for its crispness, lightness, ready-made quality and easy assembly. Clear bullet proof glazing, for security reasons and stainless steel finishes for the architectural ironmongery for their elegance, durability and material expression.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/15/embassy-of-belgium-by-buerger-katsota-architects/feed/4Two models for embassies (retreat I & II)by Anne Holtrophttp://www.dezeen.com/2010/08/06/two-models-for-embassies-retreat-i-iiby-anne-holtrop/
http://www.dezeen.com/2010/08/06/two-models-for-embassies-retreat-i-iiby-anne-holtrop/#commentsFri, 06 Aug 2010 12:51:09 +0000http://www.dezeen.com/?p=90469Dutch architect Anne Holtrop has proposed two conceptual embassy buildings for the Government Building Agency in the Netherlands. The designs (retreat I & II) would both contain a series of rooms distanced from their immediate surroundings for safety. Retreat I (above) would have alcoves in a mountainous form and Retreat II (below) would have spaces […]

See also:

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2010/08/06/two-models-for-embassies-retreat-i-iiby-anne-holtrop/feed/28Embassy of the Czech Republic by Chalupa Architektihttp://www.dezeen.com/2010/04/23/embassy-of-the-czech-republic-by-chalup-architekti/
http://www.dezeen.com/2010/04/23/embassy-of-the-czech-republic-by-chalup-architekti/#commentsFri, 23 Apr 2010 16:19:25 +0000http://www.dezeen.com/?p=76243Czech architects Chalupa Architekti have won a competition to design the new Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington DC, USA. Here's some text from the architects: Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC, USA The design of the Embassy of the Czech Republic pays tribute to its unique natural setting, and the building […]

Czech architects Chalupa Architekti have won a competition to design the new Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington DC, USA.

Here's some text from the architects:

Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC, USA

The design of the Embassy of the Czech Republic pays tribute to its unique natural setting, and the building itself is only an adjunct, not the main actor. Its form divides the site into three separate parts.

Firstly what emerges is a representational circular driveway space, the austere elegance of which underlines the drapery-like front façade made of frosted glass. Secondly, it creates a private garden space linked to the apartments and offices used for more working-like meetings.

Finally, there is the representational garden space which forms the conceptual core of the project. The garden is generously dimensioned, organically connected with the main lounges of the Embassy, and mediates a strong contact between the new building and the existing residence of the ambassador.

Designing the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington poses the special challenge (apart from the obvious creation of an environment suitable for work and meetings) of how to represent the Czech Republic abroad. It does not attempt to show what we are like, but what we would like to be like, or how we wish to be seen to the world: open, confident, friendly, helpful, and respectful, considerate to Nature and the environment in general, firmly rooted in rich cultural traditions and with respect to democratic principles; and always ready to help. Our hope is that the new Embassy building will foster this understanding.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2010/04/23/embassy-of-the-czech-republic-by-chalup-architekti/feed/11New London Embassy by KieranTimberlakehttp://www.dezeen.com/2010/02/24/new-london-embassy-by-kierantimberlake/
http://www.dezeen.com/2010/02/24/new-london-embassy-by-kierantimberlake/#commentsWed, 24 Feb 2010 09:53:10 +0000http://www.dezeen.com/?p=66443Philadelphia architect KieranTimberlake has won the competition to design the new US embassy in the UK. Called New London Embassy, it will be built at Nine Elms beside the River Thames. The building replaces Eero Saarinen's embassy is Grosvenor Square, which was completed in 1957 and which was recently listed as a Grade II historical […]

The United States Department of State announced today that KieranTimberlake has won the design competition for the New London Embassy. In statements given at a press briefing today in London, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Louis B. Susman, and Acting Director of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, Adam Namm, remarked, "KieranTimberlake's design meets the goal of creating a modern, welcoming, timeless, safe and energy efficient embassy for the 21st century. Their concept most fully satisfied the requirements outlined in the design competition's mission statement. The concept holds the greatest potential for developing a truly iconic embassy and is on the leading edge of sustainable design."

Concept

• The concept for the New London Embassy is the result of KieranTimberlake's efforts to resolve, in architectural terms, what an embassy aspires to be and what present realities dictate it must do.

• The expressive challenge is to give form to the core beliefs of our democracy - transparency, openness, and equality - and do so in a way that is both secure and welcoming. At the same time, the building must confront the environmental challenges all nations face with leading edge sustainable design.

• The team included Olin as Landscape Architect; Arup for Sustainability, MEP/FP and Civil Engineering; Weidlinger Associates for Structural and Blast Engineering; Gensler for workplace design; Davis Langdon for Cost Consulting; and Sako & Associates for Technical Security.

Urban Park

• The design places the embassy building at the center of the Nine Elms site and develops the surrounding area into an urban park. The new embassy meets all the required security standards while honoring the English tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for many civic buildings. The new embassy, with its gardens, will establish a strong framework for the urbanization of the Nine Elms redevelopment zone.

• There are two major east-west pedestrian and vehicular paths, one existing and one to be improved, and the other proposed as part of the enabling infrastructure for the Nine Elms development. The existing infrastructure is along the south Thames embankment and is composed of a river walk paralleled by Nine Elms Lane. The proposed new infrastructure to the south of the embassy site is a pedestrian greenway that will connect the embassy site to Vauxhall Station, the nearest tube stop to the east, and on to the proposed new Battersea developments to the west. Poised strategically midway between these parallel paths, the embassy becomes part of an urban park that connects the Thames embankment to the new pedestrian way to the south.

• The paving about and within the embassy site utilizes the familiar limestone used in many London walks and parks. London Plane trees provide shade and form at the perimeter and along Nine Elms Lane as well as the proposed new walk to the south that connects the site to Vauxhall Station.

• Seen from the north along the Thames embankment and Nine Elms Lane, the new Embassy Park contains a pond with walks, places to sit and landscape along its edges, all open to the citizens of London.

• Trees near the pond are to be North American species, such as the Weeping Willow and the Bald Cypress. Others, while native to North America, were long ago brought to England and are now common to the English landscape.

• Viewed from the north at the proposed plaza, the embassy grounds will provide the prospect of an open park, a landscape of grasses rising gracefully to the new embassy colonnade, with the required secure boundaries incised into the hillside and out of view. Instead of a perimeter-walled precinct, the site to the north and south is a welcoming urban amenity, a park for the city that fuses the new embassy to the city of London. Alternatives to perimeter walls and fences are achieved through landscape design.

• The spiraling form of the landscape is expressed through grading, walks and plantings in a way that simultaneously opens out to the city beyond and spirals inward as it envelops and then moves up into and through the embassy building. As a choice of form, the spiraling garden is meaningful as it represents connections of site to landscape to building.

• The connections to the surrounding urban context, both existing and proposed, begin in an open geometry well beyond the site at the Thames embankments and the proposed Vauxhall-to-Battersea pedestrian way.

• The walks and landscape forms begin their inward spiral at the outer boundaries of the site. They sweep past the pond to the entry court that opens to the Main Lobby for staff and their guests. At the opposite side of the Main Lobby, the Gallery spirals down to the north culminating in the large Multi-Purpose Hall that merges with the grade of the spiraling Consular Walk above.

• At the main entry, the site spiral continues beyond to the great arc of the Consular Garden, carrying the visitor up the Consular Walk and into the Consular Lobby and promenade overlooking the pond and the Thames embankment to the north.

• The visitor continues this spiral within the embassy, revolving about the core and up to the consular floor above, pausing along the way to overlook the Main Lobby, a significant moment where the necessarily separate worlds of the embassy - consular visitors and staff - visually intersect.

The Chancery

• Internal gardens continue vertically within the new embassy as the spiral continues upward about the core toward an ever more focused, secure and enclosed center atop the structure. These gardens provide places to meet and additional vertical circulation. The plantings for each garden are chosen for their capacity to thrive in specific orientations, for their representation of the diversity of the American landscape and for the appropriateness of each type to its use.

• The chancery is a transparent, crystalline cubic form atop a colonnade. The crystalline form is simultaneously efficient and evocative.

• It represents the optimum ratio of maximum volume within minimum perimeter with resulting cost and energy management benefits. Its precise dimensions have been selected to afford the optimum distance for visitors and occupants to daylight and view.

• As a pure geometry, the cubic form is an ancient signifier of solidity, strength and permanence, all qualities of our democracy.

• Its surface is given form through the interface between a faceted external solar shading and collection system and the blast resistant glazing.

• This crystal-like ethylene-tetrafluroethylene (ETFE) scrim has been optimized to shade interiors from east, west and south sun while admitting daylight and framing large open view portals to the outside. Its pattern visually fragments the façade while it intercepts unwanted solar gain and transforms it into energy by means of thin film photovoltaics positioned in the ETFE foils. The design of this scrim works vertically, horizontally and diagonally to eliminate directionality from the building's massing. The scrim also renders the largely transparent façades visible to migratory birds to discourage bird-strikes.

• At each façade, an ETFE enclosed pressurized air pocket further insulates the glazing from thermal transfer.

• The top of the building is sheathed with a crystalline photovoltaic array on the entire roof, screening mechanical equipment from view. The total array of crystalline and thin-film photovoltaic on the building measures 8,300 square meters with a significant output of over 345,000 kWh of energy.

• A four-sided colonnade forms the base of the building. Through both custom and the openness and accessibility of its sheltering form, colonnades have long evoked the architecture of democracy.

• At the Main and Consular Lobbies the art inside is visible through glazing from the main entry court and the pond. To the south and southwest are external art walls. As it unfolds about the central core, the art can be experienced both within the major public spaces and from the outside as part of the continuum of spiraling walks and landscape form.

• In the Main Lobby, the art wall stops at the center to inflect toward a stone wall in which the names of prior ambassadors to the Court of St. James are inscribed.

Landscape

• Rather than employing a plinth to accommodate the large programs located at the lowest levels of the building, the colonnade sits atop a gently rising earthen mound. Within this landscape form are parking garage ramps and basement service and mechanical areas to the south, and the lower level of the Gallery and Multi-Purpose Meeting Space to the north and west.

• Instead of fragmenting the embassy into a plinth and tower, this strategy transforms the large footprints of the lower levels along with the entrance pavilions into earthen landscape form to enhance the prominence of the embassy colonnade and transparent building.

• The visual presence of the whole is that of a beacon that is a respectful icon representing the strength of the U.S.-U.K. relationship.

• In the form and expression of the New London Embassy, KieranTimberlake seeks a holistic fusion of urbanism with site, of building and landscape.

• KieranTimberlake seeks a new embassy that is both evocative and that performs, one that represents our democracy and our relationship with the United Kingdom and at the same time conserves and produces energy.

• All elements are purposeful in multiple ways: from image and expression to the environment and urbanism, to the productivity and comfort of the users. The architects at KieranTimberlake do not believe these objectives can be segregated. They must work together, holistically providing new synergies that make the form of the new embassy resonate deeply.